Grandview Yard plans brewery, apartments

Saturday

Sep 21, 2013 at 12:01 AMSep 21, 2013 at 9:22 AM

An urgent-care center, 120 additional apartments and a craft brewery might be coming to Grandview Yard as the development continues to grow. However, there has been debate over the placement of the proposed 10,000-square-foot medical office building on the south side of W. 3rd Ave., just east of Edgehill Road. The site sits in Grandview Heights and Columbus.

Steve Wartenberg, The Columbus Dispatch

An urgent-care center, 120 additional apartments and a craft brewery might be coming to Grandview Yard as the development continues to grow.

However, there has been debate over the placement of the proposed 10,000-square-foot medical office building on the south side of W. 3rd Ave., just east of Edgehill Road. The site sits in Grandview Heights and Columbus.

Grandview Yard developer Nationwide Realty Investors cleared a hurdle this week , as the Grandview Heights Planning Commission approved the medical building that would include an OhioHealth urgent-care center.

The plan comes before the 5th by Northwest Area Commission on Tuesday, and the vote could be different.

“Our plan says businesses are to front the primary street they are on,” said commission Chairwoman Rebecca Obester. “This one isn’t really facing 3rd o Edgehill. It’s on a diagonal, facing the parking lot ... and we’d like them to turn the building.”

Even if the vote is no, Obester said the plan will be sent to the Columbus Board of Zoning Appeals and could be approved.

Nationwide Realty President Brian Ellis is confident the project eventually will be approved.

“They expressed some alterations to the way it is situated, and we’re trying to work through those,” he said. “It’s a process, and we feel good about the project and what we’re bringing to both cities.”

Ellis said construction could start this year and be completed in late summer or fall of 2014.

The developer also plans to build Keystone on the Yard, which is to include 78 one-bedroom and 42 two-bedroom apartments, as well as about 28,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor.

The Keystone’s three interconnected, four-story buildings on Yard Street are scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2014.

The success of the 154-unit Grandview Yard apartments, which are fully leased, gave Ellis the confidence to move forward with Keystone.

“The demand was great, and we really couldn’t get them built fast enough,” he said.

Also at Grandview Yard, Wright-Patt Credit Union will occupy a 4,500-square-foot building on the north side of W. 3rd Avenue, in front of the planned Giant Eagle that is expected to open in mid-2014.

Land-Grant Brewing Co. will lease about 20,000 square feet of the warehouse at 945 Burrell Ave., owned by Nationwide Realty, that is part of Grandview Yard.

“We made the commitment early on that we wanted to be in the thick of things, in an urban center,” said Walt Keys, who runs the company with Adam Benner and Quintin Jessee.

“And this was one of the few places with the infrastructure and enough warehouse space that was near a lot of people and big enough for the tap-room aspect we’re going to do,” he said.

Grandview Yard eventually could total about 1.5 million square feet of retail and office space, plus 600 housing units.

“We have a lot going on, and there are other things we’re working on,” Ellis said. “We’re always looking for anchor tenants for office buildings, and we have some prospects we’re talking to, and we’re talking to some restaurants interested in coming here.”

Capitol Square Ltd., the commercial real-estate arm of The Dispatch Printing Company, publisher of The Dispatch, owns a

20 percent stake in Grandview Yard.

Overall, Grandview Yard is “exceeding all expectations,” Bowman said, adding he is optimistic that the variety of amenities will continue to grow.

“We just hope it continues to have a mix of land uses over time,” he said. “It’s largely market-driven, but if we get our fair share of offices for (wage tax) revenue purposes and residential components, it will be one of the premier mixed-use developments in the state, if not nationally.”